Tonight at the 013, P-o-M proves to be nothing more than just another hyped Nirvana-clone (Scantlin desperately tries to look and sound like Curt Cobain) with meaningless kiddie songs like "Blurry", "Control", "She Hates Me" and "Bring Me Down". Besides the skilled musicianship and cool performance from bassplayer Douglas John Ardito, P-o-M offers really nothing special.

Staind
With Staind it`s a whole different story. Unlike P-o-M, these four guys and especially singer Aaron Lewis are truly talented musicians who are able to write quality compositions. The latest "Break The Cycle" album is full of it.

Luckily for us, almost every one of these beauties is performed tonight like "Open Your Eyes", "Pressure", "For You" (with the cool phrase `cause I`m fucked up, because you are’ - JG), "Fade", melodramatic acoustic versions from "Epiphany" and "Outside", "Change", the heavy "Can`t Believe" and their current hit "It`s Been A While" in the encore.

As soon as Aaron Lewis starts singing, you can`t try and pretend he`s not there. You just have to listen to his very emotional voice and dramatic style. He`s the difference between Staind and a whole lot of other bands within their genre. This guy (who seems to be very, very stoned - JG) is simply blessed with a beautiful voice and he sure knows how to use it.

The band also plays a few oldies from the previous "Dysfunction" and "Tormented" records which show that their music used to be somewhat heavier than nowadays. After one hour and 15 minutes the gig comes to an end. Too bad. Very impressive show indeed!

(Review: Johan Godschalk
Pics: Marcia Gransbergen)